Summit County diverts 12% of its waste from landfills. That’s a third of the national average of 32%.
Recycle Utah General Manager Jim Bedell said similar communities like Vail, Aspen, Jackson and Sun Valley all hover around the national average even though they face challenges similar to the Park City area.
Bedell previously told KPCW Boulder, Colorado, is the gold standard as it diverts over 50% of its waste from landfills. He said these communities have invested in recycling and compositing infrastructure.
“The lesson we learned is if you make it easier and more convenient and less expensive for businesses, visitors, locals, to divert material from the landfill, they'll do it,” Bedell said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Tuesday.
Recycle Utah leaders, the Park City mayor and members of the city and county councils recently met to discuss how to improve Summit County’s numbers.
Bedell said the group made some progress.
“We're cautiously optimistic,” he said. “I think we've all agreed that we do have a problem and we want to act on it. The challenge now is getting that action in place.”
Based on research from Recycling Resource Systems consultants, Recycle Utah is the key to increasing landfill diversion rates.
Bedell said the nonprofit has had conversations with Park City Main Street business owners about diverting waste. The problem is space is limited and businesses face difficulties storing compost and recyclable waste. Bedell said the organization is working on ways to pick up more frequently in smaller containers.
However, the nonprofit must leave its current location by September 2026 and has been looking for a new facility for years.
The consultants landed on two options for the organization: a new $20 million, 20,000-square-foot building — the size of the center’s current plot of land — or a $25 million, 30,000-square-foot building that could handle recycling from residential bins.
Bedell said Recycle Utah prefers the larger facility, but it can’t afford the $25 million price tag. The county and city will have to consider that and come up with alternative proposals.
Regardless, Bedell said a new facility likely won’t be ready by the nonprofit’s September 2026 departure deadline
“One of the very positive things we agreed last Thursday was we formed a small working group of operations people,” he said. “Our director of operations, Troy Holding, will be involved. We have some great people from both the county and the city, and we're tasked with coming up with an interim plan so that once we do leave next summer, we can continue to collect the millions of pounds of material that Recycle Utah diverts.”
Bedell said, for Recycle Utah is to be out of its current facility by September 2026, it would have to stop collecting materials over the summer.
It’s unclear when a final decision about Recycle Utah’s future will be made.
Recycle Utah is a financial supporter of KPCW.
